


Unpathed Waters, Undreamed Shores

by Shergar



Category: The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types
Genre: ALTERNATE UNIVERSE I GUESS, I Don't Even Know, Insecure Alec Lightwood, M/M, Mythical Beings & Creatures, What Was I Thinking?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-23
Updated: 2020-10-28
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:01:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26608687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shergar/pseuds/Shergar
Summary: The keening in the woods had started shortly after he arrived, getting ever closer as the days passed. Who knows what creatures inhabited the loch or the surrounding forest. Surely it was just some lost young cub looking for it’s mother or a strange water bird he had yet to see. This was a perfectly ordinary place where nothing extraordinary could happen, right?
Relationships: Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Comments: 4
Kudos: 23





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Look... I don't know what happened either. It just happened.

Magnus had moved into his friend’s Scottish manor months ago, wanting nothing more than a vacation from all the trouble that seemed to follow him around. If it wasn’t him getting himself out of the predicaments that seemed to befall him, then he seemed to be saving those pesky Shadowhunters (why, he still didn’t know) from their own follies. All he wanted was a few months in peace, to recoup some of his sanity and a good portion of his own magic. Besides, if something truly terrible occurred, Ragnor would surely let him know. 

The keening in the woods had started shortly after he arrived, getting ever closer as the days passed. Who knows what creatures inhabited the loch or the surrounding forest. Surely it was just some lost young cub looking for it’s mother or a strange water bird he had yet to see. This was a perfectly ordinary place where nothing extraordinary could happen, right?

He lived exactly one month as mundane as possible before he started feeling the itch of magic under his skin again. It was too quiet, to calm… he needed to DO something or this self-imposed vacation was going to feel more like a prison sentence. He looked around Ragnor’s disused manor house and snapped his fingers. He’d redecorate. His friend definitely didn’t have an ounce of style, at least in Magnus’ opinion. 

He spent the next month doing minor home renovation projects - replanting the guardians, changing the windows, magicking some new paint on the outside of the house in the middle of the night. Surely, Ragnor would be appreciative. He was breathing new life into the dusty house that had sat forgotten for the last period of his friend’s long life.

By the end of the third month, he’d gotten used to the unnatural wailing noise. Sometimes it came from the lock, other times from the woods around the house. He never saw the beast making the noise and it never got closer than the stone wall surrounding the property. He began to hear thunder more and more often, without the actual storm that followed but this was Scotland. That was likely a normal thing here. It didn’t seem like a sunny sort of place. 

Around the time Magnus had finished (magically) planting a lovely little rose garden that had just started to bloom, he started getting visits from the first local he’d seen since moving himself in. The boy was in his mid-twenties, with shaggy black hair that always looked like he had just come from swimming (and perhaps he had, they were surrounded by water) and eyes the color of the sun reflecting off the loch on a clear day. His clothes never seemed to fit quite right and more often than not had little bits of seaweed stuck to them. Magnus, always one to add a little bit of sparkle to his own wardrobe, noticed a thick silver necklace peeking from underneath his shirt.

The first few times he did nothing more than greet Magnus before scuttering back into the woods. Magnus figured he was on his way to or home from work, whatever that may be, and didn’t want to stop and chat but after about a week, he stopped quickly retreating. The boy looked like he wanted to say more but ended up retreating back the way he had come. If the noises coming from the woods at night got louder, Magnus pretended not to notice. 

Deciding once and for all to get further than their endless hellos, the warlock decided to meet him at the gate one afternoon with a cup of tea. The boy showed up at what was now becoming his normal time, surprised to see Magnus waiting for him. A huge smile spread across his face as he waved to Magnus. 

“Good afternoon. Tea?” Magnus asked, offering him the still magically steaming teacup that rested on the stone support for the gate. The boy looked at it curiously, glancing back at him and watching as the other man took a sip of his. He cautiously picked it up and took a sip, eyes widening slightly at the taste. “This is delicious.”

“I’m glad you like it, Ragnor does like trying to hide the good stuff. Try. He’s yet to learn that that usually won’t stop me. I’m Magnus. I figured I’d greet you properly seeing as we’ve been saying hello over the fence the past few weeks. Would you like to join me for lunch?” The boy nodded and Magnus opened the gate to let him inside. “I didn’t catch your name.”

“I…” the boy started, panic evident in his voice. Magnus held up his free hand in a gesture of peace. 

“If you don’t want to tell me, that’s fine too. You don’t have to. We can still enjoy a lovely lunch.” The younger man relaxed, giving Magnus a small smile and followed him into the house. The warlock quickly magicked up a nice lunch (out of view of his guest, of course, no need to give the poor kid a heart attack) and poured two of his famous cocktails. “To our new found friendship.”

This event ended up repeating itself over the next few weeks. He still didn’t know the boy’s name but he found himself falling for him. His black hair and bright blue eyes were definitely his type, or at least Ragnor and Cat would think so. More than that, he found himself mesmerized by his innocence and curiosity. He may have lived a very sheltered life but he was so willing to learn, Magnus’ heart couldn’t help but break a little. 

He did learn a little more about his new friend. He lived with his family - consisting of his two parents, two siblings and what seemed like an adopted brother. They lived a bit further away, closer to the loch itself. The boy passed Magnus’ house each day on his way home from running errands for his family. 

Eventually, their lunches became dinners. The warlock had first worried about the journey through the woods in the dark alone but the boy had laughed and said he’d be fine. Magnus had warned him about the strange noises and possibility of meeting a strange animal on his journey home. “I wouldn’t want it to attack you.”

“We definitely wouldn’t want that. I’ll be fine, Magnus. I grew up around here. I know everything in these woods.”

One night, about six months after the start of their friendship, Magnus found himself on the couch reading aloud from the Odyssey, the boy half asleep with his head in the warlock’s lap. He paused, raising his hand from where it had been gently running through the other man’s hair, to turn the page. A hand caught his wrist and he looked down. “Alec.” Magnus gave his young friend a curious look and got a sigh in return. “That’s what I like to be called. Alec.”

The warlock felt his heart nearly skip a beat and tried not to show the surprise in his face. He grinned instead, “Short for Alexander, I presume?” Alec nodded in return. “Nice to meet you Alexander.”

A few more months passed, Magnus finding less and less reason to return immediately to the hustle and bustle of city life. His magic had returned in full and his weariness at life had quietly left. The wailing in the woods had stopped and Alexander’s visits had gotten more frequent. He continued his renovations on Ragnor’s house, knowing that the other man would give him absolute hell when he saw the state of things. 

The library was the last room left to update and the one Magnus was most hesitant to touch. His old friend was ever so particular about his books and if he found anything, damaged, missing or otherwise not up to par, Magnus would surely spend the next hundred years paying for it. Finally, his courage won out and he started to at least straighten up the room. A quick sweep of his magic got rid of the dust and cobwebs. He picked up books from various tables and began to shelve them when one at the bottom of the pile caught his eye. 

_ Kaelpie _

_ An aquatic horse like creature known to inhabit the lochs and pools of Scotland. Described as pure black with seaweed and shells caught in their manes and tails and a silver bridle, Kaelpies are skittish creatures that try to keep to themselves. The wailing of the winds on the loch or the rolling thunder is said to be attributed to them. Some stories report them to be man-eaters, luring humans to their death through drowning and consuming their corpse but I’ve found that to be mostly untrue. They will attack if provoked but prefer to disappear back into the water and escape. They have also been said to be shape-shifters, able to assume the form of a young man or woman, though those accounts are few and far between. In a human guise, the bridle becomes a necklace and it is said that removing it returns the kaelpie to their equine form.  _

  
  



	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Do you trust me?” Alec asked, grabbing Magnus’ hands with a pleading look. The warlock nodded and Alec shook his head, not pleased with the answer that he had received. “No, do you trust me, Magnus?” 

If Alec was a kaelpie, it certainly wouldn’t be the strangest thing in Magnus’ life, afterall, he was a 400 year old warlock with a Prince of Hell for a father. Unfortunately, it was sort of hard to just ask someone if they were a possibly fictional water horse because if the answer was no then you’d end up looking like an idiot. He bit his lip as he looked around Ragnor’s library. Of course, if the answer was yes, he wanted the boy to know he was safe here and that Magnus himself also was a little more than human.

His friend had always been a bookworm and he wondered if he could find any more mention of the creatures outside of this one book and the associated footnotes. The next few hours passed quickly as he pulled dusty tome after dusty tome off the shelf in hope of some more answers. Unfortunately, he turned up very little outside of the original entry and as the sun started to peek in the window, he realized how long he’d been at his research. Alec would be by this evening for dinner and he didn’t want to fall asleep on the boy. He forced himself out of the library and into bed, if only for a couple of hours. 

He woke up in the early afternoon and set about getting everything ready for their dinner. He wasn’t sure if he’d breach the kaelpie subject tonight, perhaps if there was a correct time for it, though that seemed unlikely because...well, how does something like that even come up naturally in conversation? He didn’t want to make Alec uncomfortable or ruin their dinner. They had plenty of time for revelations later. Neither would be hurt by keeping their secrets secret just a little bit longer. 

Alec arrived, perfectly on time, as expected. Magnus was already at the door before he could knock. The boy was wearing black jeans and a soft black sweater tonight. His hair was a little damp and tousled by the wind that was starting to kick up outside. The silver necklace that he never took off peaked out from beneath his shirt. “It’s good to see you again. Dinner is ready - shall we?”

Dinner wasn’t too noteworthy - the two chatted and ate, enjoying each other’s company. Magnus expanded Alec’s culinary palette by serving Thai (courtesy of one of his favorite restaurants in New York, though Alec didn’t need to know that.) Once their meal was over and both were feeling a little buzzed, they moved to the couch in the sitting room and Magnus took out the latest book that they had been reading -  _ Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland _ . Alec joined the warlock on the couch, instantly melting into him and relaxed as he began to read. 

_ “The sun was shining on the sea,  _ _   
_ _ Shining with all his might:  _ _   
_ _ He did his very best to make  
_ _ The billows smooth and bright --   
_ _ And this was odd, because it was  
_ __ The middle of the night.”

The storm had steadily been picking up all night and Alec startled as a loud clap of thunder shook the old house. Magnus rested his hand gently on the boy’s head and started to run his fingers through his hair. “It’s alright, my dear. I’m sure Ragnor has all sorts of plans in place to keep the house safe.” He wasn’t sure, not really, but that’s what magic was for after all. “You might be staying here tonight, however, I doubt you want to walk home in this dastardly weather.”

Alec didn’t respond, but Magnus could feel his heart rate pick up. Maybe he wasn’t a kaelpie after all - why would a water horse be afraid of storms? He continued reading, trying to ignore the thunder and lightning and howling winds outside of the house. Despite his best efforts to radiate calmness and safety, Alec was still on edge and Magnus wished desperately that he could do more for the boy.

A shrill scream off in the distance had Alec’s head shooting up, nearly colliding with Magnus’ nose. He had a look of terror in his eyes as he tried to see through the storm outside of the windows. “Alexander, calm down. It’s alright. I’m sure it’s just the wind. The storm is bad, yes, but we’re safe inside.” He said, squeezing the boy’s arm and trying to bring his attention back to him. 

“Magnus, you don’t understand…” He was cut off by another clash of thunder that was immediately followed by lightning and, a tense second later, another scream. “That came from the loch…” Alec muttered, taking off towards the door without another word to Magnus.

“Alexander, wait! Where are you going? It isn’t safe to go out in the storm right now!” Magnus tried, following the boy to the front door and watching as he threw it open and bolted towards the loch. The warlock paused for a moment, debating on whether he should follow but ultimately deciding that he couldn’t live with himself if something happened to Alec because he hadn’t wanted to get a little wet. Without even bothering to magic himself up a raincoat, he followed Alec into the stormy night and down towards the edge of the loch. 

He reached the boy as another flash of lightning hit the water. Alec had a hand raised above his eyes to keep the rain out as he glanced over the loch. “What are you looking for? I doubt anyone was out on a boat in this weather.” Magnus shouted, struggling to make himself heard over the heaving winds and rain. Alec didn’t answer and continued to look out over the water, tension in every inch of his body. 

“Do you trust me?” Alec asked, grabbing Magnus’ hands with a pleading look. The warlock nodded and Alec shook his head, not pleased with the answer that he had received. “No, do you  _ trust _ me, Magnus?” 

“Of course I do, Alexander.”

Alec paused, taking a second to stroke Magnus’ cheek gently before taking off towards the water. He dove in before Magnus could stop him and disappeared from sight. One minute… two… Alexander had yet to re-emerge and the warlock had to resist every urge to scream his name and jump in after him. He trusted Alec. He’d just said he did. He needed to believe that there was something more going on here. 

After what felt like an eternity, another bolt of lightning hit the water in front of him and Magnus stumbled back quickly. An unnatural scream came from the water followed shortly by a dark shape breaking free of the waves. As it got closer, Magnus could see the features more clearly - a black horse with red eyes and very long, very sharp teeth. He realized the creature was heading right towards him and it didn’t look like it had any intention of making friends.

The smart thing to do would be to run back towards the treeline and try to make it back to the house. Or maybe that wasn’t the smart thing to do… you stood your ground and made a lot of noise with most large predators, right? Should he try that?

Another head breached the waves and made a beeline for the shore. This horse (kaelpie, he reminded himself) was larger than the first, without the malicious red eyes. He was stockier, but not by much, with a much lighter coat. Instead of pure black, his coat was dark grey, darkening around his head and legs. His mane and tail were black as well, but the most noticeable thing was the silver bridle on the horse’s head. Alec...this had to be Alec. 

Magnus had been so caught up in the appearance of the second creature, that he hadn’t noticed that the first one had gotten terrifyingly close to him. He suddenly found his face inches away from razor-sharp teeth and he stumbled backward, landing on his ass on the muddy beach. Maybe he should have made a break for it instead of standing in shock like an idiot.

Alec came out of nowhere, placing his body between Magnus and the other horse. The black creature screamed and struck out with his front legs. For his part, Alec reared, striking back and landing hard on his front feet. The dark horse lunged, trying to make another move towards Magnus (who he very much wanted to eat for dinner, the warlock was sure,) but was once again stopped by Alec. He grabbed the creature by the neck with his own set of impressive teeth and shoved him farther away. 

The other horse’s attention was now solely on Alec and Magnus felt his heart nearly beating out of his chest. He wanted to help, he  _ could _ help, but he didn’t want to risk hurting Alec with his magic if he missed and conditions during this storm were...less than ideal. The two kaelpies were moving too fast, a blur of vicious teeth and dangerous hooves. The rain continued to pour and lightning struck again, this time much farther off in the distance. 

The fight was savage and bloody. Magnus could see the dark red already staining the beach and being carried away by the waves. He couldn’t be sure if it was coming from Alec or the other horse. Alec once again grabbed the other horse by the neck, this time biting down harder and twisting his head. The black horse went limp, its form wavering for a moment before breaking down into a mass of seaweed. 

Alec stood by where the other creature had fallen breathing heavily. Now that he was still, Magnus could see the bite marks that littered his body. Not all the blood had come from the other horse. The sight had Magnus running towards him, stopping suddenly as he realized his presence might not be welcome. “Oh Alexander...let me help you.” That seemed to snap Alec back to the present. He shuddered once and his form began to change. 

The process happened more by magic than a physical shift and a more human Alec was standing in front of him, completely nude save for the silver pendant around his neck only a few seconds later. He was silent, shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot, obviously waiting for Magnus’ reaction. “Let’s get back to the house and look at some of those wounds, yeah?” He wrapped his around the boy and pulled him close. Alec’s breath hitched and he let out a pained breath. “Thank you for trusting me with your secret.” He whispered, holding him in a tight hug. “Let me show you mine… let’s head home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, I don't know either. I guess we will see where it goes!

**Author's Note:**

> This was going to be like 900 words max and well...here we are. It will be in at least 2 parts.
> 
> I don't know. I just like Kelpies, okay? Went with an alternative spelling - according to Dr. Wikipedia that's the spelling that was first recorded.
> 
> Title is from The Winter's Tale by Shakespeare.


End file.
